Forcing Function Hour

In this special edition of Forcing Function Hour, Chris Sparks is interviewed by Justin Peters of The Struggle is Real. Chris shares the key inflection points of his poker career, illustrating how to install systems for continuous improvement.By listening to this episode, you'll learn how to recognize a good bet, be more decisive, and unlock the compounding returns of a process-oriented life.For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/the-struggle-is-real.

This is the “Best of 2022” episode, highlighting five of our favorite moments from the past year. Lots of stellar guests on Forcing Function Hour this year so it was really tough to limit down to just five. Listen for insights from a World Champion Gymnast, the author of Kindle's Most-Highlighted book, one of the foremost experts on nonverbal communication, an Emmy-Nominated director of Chef's Table, and the Artist Manager for one of the highest-paid hip-hop artists in the world.

Eric Lewis, known as ELEW, is a multi-talented artist with a career that spans the worlds of music performance, composition, and film production. Eric started his music career as a jazz and concert pianist playing with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. Reinventing himself as ELEW, he pioneered the crossover musical techniques Rockjazz, Counterbop, and Piano Turntablism. Among many other accolades, Eric has opened for Josh Groban, produced tracks for Lil' Wayne, appeared on America's Got Talent, spoken at TED, and performed at the White House for the Obamas.In this conversation, Chris Sparks takes you inside the mind of a musical genius as ELEW shares the strategy, mindset, and principles required to put on an epic performance. You'll learn how to reverse-engineer a creative vision, the keys to reinvention as an artist, why preparation seeds adaptability, how to overcome perfectionism, career lessons from the world of blitz chess, and much more.For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/elew.

Blake Eastman is the founder of The Nonverbal Group, a long-time professional poker player, and the creator of "Beyond Tells," the largest behavioral study ever conducted on poker players. Blake's passion is using visual feedback to teach leaders and teams how to better interpret nonverbal signals and monitor the information that their body gives off. In this conversation, Blake and Chris demonstrate how to master your communication, on and off the poker table. You will learn how to read the nuances of human emotion, have deeper awareness in social situations, and create greater alignment between your presentation and your intended message. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/blake-eastman.

Frank Lantz is a game designer, writer, and educator. Frank co-founded the experimental game studio Area/Code which was acquired by Zynga. His games span genres and include favorites such as Hey Robot, Drop7, Babble Royale, and Universal Paperclips. Frank has taught game design for over two decades at New York University where he helped to create the NYU Game Center. His new book, The Beauty of Games, is coming out from MIT Press in 2023.In this conversation, Frank joins Chris Sparks to share how a leading game designer sees the world. What do games have to teach us? Can studying game theory and game principles make us better humans? Learn how to make sure you play the right games and become aware of the games you are playing without even realizing it.For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/frank-lantz.

Eric Jorgenson is the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and an early-stage investor as a GP in Rolling Fun. Currently, Eric teaches the Life of Leverage course, hosts his podcast, Jorgenson's Soundbox, and is writing his second book, The Almanack of Balaji Srinivasan. In this conversation, Eric Jorgenson and Chris Sparks share how to recognize and amplify the points of leverage in your life and career. You'll learn how to set your aspirational hourly rate, discover previously underutilized assets, and start reclaiming your time by doing the work only you can do. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/eric-jorgenson.

Cameron Schiller is an award-winning content & brand marketer, Founder of RYOT Media, co-chair of the Young Leadership Council of the Brooklyn Museum, and an elite skydiver and wingsuit flyer. Cameron recently became a competitive triathlete, going from zero experience to making Team USA in just one year, and will represent the US at the World Championships in 2023. In this conversation, Cameron Schiller and Chris Sparks discuss the training methods of elite athletes, overcoming mental barriers, and leveraging data to reveal hidden dimensions of performance. You will also receive a crash course on elite skydiving including techniques to heighten your proprioception, confront your fears, and stay calm in the face of unforeseen challenges. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/cameron-schiller.

David Eldar is a real estate investor better known as Australia's top-ranked Scrabble player, a title he has held since 2014. David was the 2017 Scrabble World Champion and the 2019 World Runner-Up and is consistently rated among the top five Scrabble players in the entire world. In this conversation, we explore the underlying principles of strategy, language, and gameplay through the lens of Scrabble. Pay attention to David's approach to dominating the meta-skills of Scrabble to discover hidden dimensions in the games you choose to play. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/david-eldar.

Daniel Scrivner is an award-winning designer working with many brands such as Apple, Nike, Square, Disney, and Target, and is the host of the podcast Outlier Academy. Today, Daniel is a design-centric venture capitalist, serving as General Partner at Ligature and an angel investor in over 100 companies. In this conversation, we distill the lessons Daniel learned from his experiences as a designer, operator, and investor. You'll learn the keys to a successful company turnaround, strategies for getting access to competitive investment deals, and how to unlock the superpower of design for your brand. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/daniel-scrivner.

Kenny Arnold is a multidisciplinary industrial designer exploring the intersection of play and sustainability. Kenny is most known for his award-winning designs of toys, playgrounds, and other educational tools. When he's not tinkering, Kenny teaches workshops on design principles and creative thinking. In this conversation, Chris and Kenny show how to apply design-thinking principles to day-to-day problem-solving. Listen to improve your ability to adapt on the fly, and transform your ideas from concepts into reality. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit forcingfunctionhour.com/kenny-arnold.

Kristin Allen is a two-time World Champion in the sport of acrobatic gymnastics and a member of the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame. After leaving competitive sport, Kristin performed with Pippin on Broadway, Cirque du Soleil, and the Kellogg's Tour of Champions. Today, Kristin is the founder and president of the Acrobatic Gymnastics Foundation, the Chairwoman of the National Gymnastics Foundation, and an active investor and advisor in early-stage companies. In this conversation, Kristin and Chris dig into the mindset, training, and performance techniques necessary to reach the elite levels of a sport. Kristin shares lesser-known aspects of reaching the top—namely, what comes after World Champion? She shares insightful lessons on disentangling our identities from our profession and designing sustainable practices for mental health and athletic recovery. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/kristin-allen.

Brian Tate spent a decade as a professional high-stakes poker player, competing against poker legends in the largest mixed games in the world. Brian left poker in 2016 to start creating homemade oatmeal. Under Brian's leadership, Oats Overnight is now a vertically-integrated breakfast brand with tens of millions of meals served. In this conversation, Brian and Chris discuss principles you can apply from gaming and poker to take yourself to the next level in entrepreneurship. Brian shares what it takes to launch a retail brand, strategies for building a high-performing culture, and how to reinvent yourself to create career inflection points. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit forcingfunctionhour.com/brian-tate.

Scott Norton co-founded the successful condiment brand Sir Kensington's, acquired by Unilever in 2017. Prior to Sir Kensington's, Scott worked at Lehman Brothers in Tokyo and traveled across Asia on a folding bicycle. Today, Scott is the founder of N+1 Ventures, accelerating businesses cultivating their “onlyness” to make an impact on culture. He serves on boards of purpose-driven companies including MUDWTR, Smallhold, and Firstleaf. In this conversation, Scott shares valuable lessons learned along the journey from brand conception to strategic exit. You'll learn the foundational elements of identity for companies and for people so you can leverage your brand, share your story, and build a reputation that resonates with anyone you want to bring into your orbit. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/scott-norton (forcingfunctionhour.com/scott-norton).

Nick is the author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, a step-by-step handbook that teaches you how to build big relationships by hosting small gatherings. Nick started and sold two successful companies and over 75,000 people have watched his TEDx talk about why he hates most museums. He's been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine called him a host of “culturally significant parties." Nick has hosted literally hundreds of cocktail parties all around the world while developing his simple system for being a great host. If you want to expand your network, make deeper connections, and create fun and memorable experiences with interesting people, you're going to love this conversation. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/nick-gray (forcingfunctionhour.com/nick-gray).

Dan Dworkis, MD PhD, is an emergency physician, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine, and the author of The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performance Under Pressure. Dan's work at The Emergency Mind Project focuses on human performance under pressure, especially in times of emergency and crisis. In this conversation, we share techniques for improving your decision making and becoming a great leader in critical situations. We explore mental preparation, navigating risk and uncertainty, creating high performing cultures, and much more. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/dan-dworkis (forcingfunctionhour.com/dan-dworkis).

Dominic Zijlstra is an edtech entrepreneur and polyglot. He helps professionals learn faster and remember more using science-based learning methods. His obsession with learning better started in 2017, when he'd spent a year studying Mandarin but still couldn't communicate with his Chinese parents-in-law. He dove deep into the science of learning and developed a learning method that actually worked. He learned Mandarin successfully and then turned this method into an app (Traverse.link). Over 10000 people have used it since to learn things like languages, technical skills, marketing, psychology, and more. In this conversation, we share proven techniques to accelerate your learning. You will learn how to increase your information retention, speed up the acquisition of new skills, and become the person necessary to achieve ambitious goals. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit forcingfunctionhour.com/dominic-zijlstra.

Milan Ackerman is a serial entrepreneur and investor, best known as the artist manager for rap superstar Russ. Milan discovered Russ on SoundCloud in 2014 and helped propel him to multi-platinum status with several Billboard Top 100 singles. Today, Milan is the CEO of M-Pack Entertainment, one of the most successful independent music management companies. Milan is the definition of persistence. In this conversation, Milan shares how to leverage the internet to build your personal brand, what it means to make it today in music and media, how to reverse engineer your dreams, and a day in the life of the manager of a touring superstar. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit forcingfunctionhour.com/milan-ackerman.

Bryan Talebi was born in a tiny village with no running water and no electricity in the southeastern desert of Iran. He began his career working as an Aerospace Engineer at NASA at the age of sixteen. Bryan started his first company while in college and then worked at multiple machine learning companies which went on to become unicorns. Today, Bryan is the founder of Ahura AI, an artificial intelligence and biometric data company enabling accelerated education. Bryan also runs AB+ Ventures, an impact fund focused on transformational AI, and Digital Guardians, a non-profit he started with Richard Branson to mitigate existential risk. Bryan has a remarkable ability to connect with people. In this conversation, we share systems and strategies for presenting yourself confidently in social settings, activating your network to maximize your opportunity surface area, and making more authentic connections. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit forcingfunctionhour.com/bryan-talebi.

Abigail Fuller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work includes five seasons on the Emmy-nominated series Chef's Table, Dear Oprah for Apple TV+, and the feature documentary Do You Dream in Color? Her work has twice premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Telluride's MountainFilm, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to name a few. Abby is dedicated to telling deeply human stories that allow for empathy and sharing new perspectives. Abby joins Chris Sparks to share the elements of telling a great story. What makes a story powerful? How do we become better listeners to reveal the hidden superpowers in the people around us? How can we structure the stories we tell to better connect with an audience? As a director, Abby helps us see ourselves in the people who once seemed different. She has a deep understanding of what makes a character tick, building the rapport and trust necessary to bring their truth out and communicating that truth visually on screen in a way that resonates. For the video recording, resources mentioned, and conversation transcript, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/abby-fuller

Paul Millerd is an independent writer, creator, and consultant.  He has been self-employed for almost five years after spending many years working in consulting.  He recently published a book, The Pathless Path, about his experiments with designing life and improving his relationship with work. Paul joins Chris Sparks to ask the dangerous question: What if we threw out the default scripts of success and carved our own path? How would our relationship with work transform?  This is a conversation about living in alignment with our values and doing meaningful work towards a meaningful life. For the video recording, resources mentioned, and conversation transcript, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/paul-millerd

​Sasha Chapin is an award-winning writer, writing coach, and recovering chess enthusiast. Sasha is the author of All The Wrong Moves; he publishes on Substack and has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, BuzzFeed, and Hazlitt. Is writing a priority for you this year? Do you want to work on a book or be more consistent with publishing your blog or newsletter? Many of the blocks to consistent writing are psychological, not practical. Sasha shares techniques for narrowing the gap from your brain to the page and making the writing process more enjoyable.​ For the video recording, resources mentioned, and conversation transcript, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/sasha-chapin (https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/sasha-chapin).

​Hac Dang was ranked in the top 10 for all-time-biggest winners for online poker. Since then, he's co-founded Happy Endings Hospitality, a restaurant group in the Northern Virginia area with 6 restaurants and counting. ​Hac joins Chris Sparks to discuss playing Positive Sum Games. This is a conversation about achieving your full potential while remaining balanced and aligned. How can we become elite competitors in high-stakes pursuits like poker, trading, and entrepreneurship without that competitiveness leaking over into our relationships and personal lives? When is it correct to leave wealth on the table in pursuit of greater happiness and fulfillment? For the video recording, resources mentioned, and conversation transcript, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/hac-dang (https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/hac-dang)

Khe Hy is the founder of RadReads, a community dedicated to transforming our relationships with time, work, money, and ourselves. Khe joins Chris to discuss why true wealth is measured in time, not money and to share systems and practices for living a balanced and aligned life. If it feels like you are constantly juggling your career, hobbies, relationships, and family, this conversation is for you. For the video recording, resources mentioned, and conversation transcript, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/khe-hy-3 (https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/khe-hy-3)

Thanh Pham is the founder of Asian Efficiency, a company that has helped over 15,000 people live productive lives through online courses, programs, and workshops. Thanh is the co-host of The Productivity Show, a weekly podcast with ten million downloads, and is a prolific writer and public speaker on the topics of productivity, efficiency, and time management. Thanh joins Chris Sparks to discuss building a high-performing team and how to systematically design smooth and efficient operations. They share their principles and strategies for onboarding hires, streamlining processes, and getting the most out of your team. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://www.forcingfunction.com/podcast/thanh-pham (forcingfunction.com/podcast/thanh-pham).

​Gagan Biyani is the co-founder of Maven, which empowers experts to offer cohort-based courses directly to their audience. Gagan is a serial entrepreneur; he previously co-founded Udemy and Sprig, a food delivery company. Gagan is an investor and advisor to over thirty companies. ​Gagan joins Chris to share how founders can accelerate their path to acquiring product market fit. Gagan's extensive startup experience taught him that creating a “minimum viable product” or MVP—widely considered startup dogma—leads teams astray by over-building and over-developing too early in the process. If you are building your company around outdated paradigms like Lean Startup, you're going to have a bad time. ​Instead, through Minimum Viable Testing, teams can save time, avoid hiring developers too early, and have higher accuracy on their eventual initial product. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit forcingfunctionhour.com/gagan-biyani.

Nicholas Yoder is a mathematician with twelve years of experience in derivatives trading and quantitative finance. He gives lectures to various institutions including The World Bank, Carnegie Mellon, and billion-dollar hedge funds. Nicholas joins Chris for a conversation on correctly sizing your investments using the Kelly Criterion, the financial alchemy of dollar-cost averaging, and strategies for sticking to your investing principles when you need them most. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/nicholas-yoder (forcingfunctionhour.com/nicholas-yoder).

Denise Shull, CEO of The ReThink Group, leverages her background in neuroscience and modern psychoanalysis to solve the mental mysteries of successful investing, trading, competing, and leading teams. Denise is the author of Market Mind Games, describing how investors who prioritize emotion and the resolution of psychological roadblocks make better decisions and achieve superior performance. Denise joined Chris for a conversation on how top-performing investors win the mental game. For the video recording, resources mentioned, and conversation transcript, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/denise-shull (forcingfunctionhour.com/denise-shull). 

David Kadavy is the bestselling author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start, How to Write a Book, and Design for Hackers. David hosts a weekly podcast, Love Your Work, at the intersection of creativity and productivity and is a self-publishing coach supporting writers in getting their work in the hands of readers. David joined Chris to discuss how to generate creative states of mind and why different stages of a creative require different approaches. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/david-kadavy (forcingfunctionhour.com/david-kadavy). 

Khe Hy is the founder of RadReads, a community dedicated to transforming our relationships with time, work, money, and ourselves. His latest courses, Supercharge Your Productivity and The GTD Power-Pack, teach how to use Notion as an interface to elevate and accomplish your most important goals. Khe Hy joined Chris Sparks for a presentation and conversation on how to apply David Allen's classic book Getting Things Done (GTD) in this completely different world in which we find ourselves twenty years later. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/khe-hy-gtd (forcingfunctionhour.com/khe-hy-gtd). 

Ali Abdaal is a doctor, YouTuber, and podcaster exploring the principles, strategies, and tools that help us live happier, healthier, more productive lives. While Ali is most 'famous' for his YouTube videos, he also writes and teaches online courses about productivity, tech, study techniques, entrepreneurship, and personal finance. Ali joined Chris to discuss how learning in public is the best way to accelerate growth and achieve your full potential. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/ali-abdaal (forcingfunctionhour.com/ali-abdaal). 

Chris Williamson is the host of Modern Wisdom, a top 20 podcast in the UK with 2.5+ million downloads. Chris owns an events company and teaches his clients how to discover their purpose and get the most out of life using findings from performance, fitness, and psychology. Chris Williamson joined Chris Sparks in a look behind the scenes at their 2020 Annual Reviews. They discussed how to extract maximum value from your end-of-year reflection and craft goals that will propel you to become your best self. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/chris-williamson (forcingfunctionhour.com/chris-williamson). 

Garrett Adelstein is a force of nature in the world of high-stakes poker. He's known for routinely raking in six-figure pots with his creative and aggressive style of play. Garrett is a fixture on poker's largest televised cash games such as Live at the Bike and Poker After Dark and he made an appearance on CBS's Survivor Season 28: Cagayan. Garrett joined Chris to unfold poker's hidden dimensions: the dark matter which separates winners from the rest of the field.https://twitter.com/gmanpoker () For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/garrett-adelstein (forcingfunctionhour.com/garrett-adelstein). 

Spencer Greenberg is a serial founder, mathematician, and social scientist, with a focus on improving human well-being. He is the founder of Uplift and Mind Ease, apps for helping people with anxiety and depression, as well as ClearerThinking.org which provides 40 tools and training programs to improve decision-making. Spencer is also the founder of Spark Wave, a startup foundry that creates novel software products from scratch. Spencer joined Chris to discuss principles and techniques for improving our decision-making and reducing thinking biases. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/spencer-greenberg (forcingfunctionhour.com/spencer-greenberg).  

Taylor is the author of The End of Jobs, a book about our entrepreneurial future. He is currently writing a book about the cascading effects of blockchain technology. Taylor is also a principal at Mutiny Fund, a long-volatility and tail-risk focused hedge fund and is the operator of a SaaS private equity fund. Taylor joined Chris to discuss becoming more accurate predictors of the future and positioning ourselves to be antifragile to an uncertain world.  For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/taylor-pearson (forcingfunctionhour.com/taylor-pearson).

David Perell is a writer, teacher, and podcaster. David's online course, Write of Passage, teaches a step-by-step method for publishing quality content and distributing your ideas and has been taken by 500+ students from over 40 countries. David is also the host of the North Star Podcast where he has conducted 100 interviews exploring the methods and principles of successful creators, artists, and entrepreneurs. David joined Chris to discuss revealing your unique ability, leveraging your strengths, and building a personal brand that attracts inbound opportunities. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunction.com/podcast/david-perell (forcingfunctionhour.com/david-perell).  

Tiago Forte is the founder of Forte Labs and a writer dismantling stagnant productivity paradigms. Building A Second Brain, has taught 2,000 students how to save their best ideas, organize their learning, and dramatically expand their creative output. Tiago joined Chris by popular demand for a sequel to episode 2, The Lifecycle of an Online Course. They dive deeper into the lessons Tiago has learned launching 10 courses over the last 7 years which have generated well over one million dollars in sales including the 4P's model for successful course launches. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/tiago-forte-2forcingfunctionhour.com/tiago-forte-2 (forcingfunctionhour.com/tiago-forte-2).  

Nat Eliason is the CEO of the marketing agency Growth Machine and a master of scaling businesses with SEO-driven content. Nat is also the co-founder of Cup & Leaf, a boutique tea brand, the creator of Effortless Output With Roam, a course on knowledge management, and the publisher of Monday Medley. Nat joins Chris to discuss quickly getting new projects off the ground, systematically accelerating your learning curve, and making your creative output feel more effortless. Nat is incredibly prolific and has a proven knack for quickly turning ideas into action. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/nat-eliason (forcingfunctionhour.com/nat-eliason).

Khe Hy is the founder of RadReads, a community dedicated to transforming our relationships with time, work, money, and ourselves. His latest course, Supercharge Your Productivity, teaches how to use Notion as an interface to discover and elevate what is truly important in your life. Khe joined Chris to discuss ways to systematize living your version of The Good Life by discovering what you really want, designing your life dashboard, and avoiding the "When-Then" trap. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/khe-hy (forcingfunctionhour.com/khe-hy).

Tiago Forte is the founder of Forte Labs and the creator of three successful online courses which have generated over one million dollars in sales. Building A Second Brain has taught 2,000 students how to save their best ideas, organize their learning, and dramatically expand their creative output. Tiago joined Chris to discuss the evolution of online education, why most online courses fail, and how to design, build, and market a profitable online course. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/tiago-forte (forcingfunctionhour.com/tiago-forte).

Steve Schlafman has been one of the most respected and prolific seed investors in NYC for the last decade. He is also a highly sought-after coach for CEOs, helping them lead more authentically and effectively. Steve joined Chris to discuss startup fundraising, the anatomy of leadership, and executive performance. For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/steve-schlafman (forcingfunctionhour.com/steve-schlafman).